Composer; Conductor

ENG

The work of the composer and conductor Christina Athinodorou has been described as “atmospheric, strangely fascinating” and “intensely interpreted” by international press.

Her music has been featured in festivals worldwide, including the Biennale di Venezia, Grafenegg Festival, MITO Settembre, ISCM World New Music Days-Wien Modern, Salle Pleyel, Onassis Cultural Centre, Music Biennale Zagreb, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, deFilharmonie Chamber Series to name but a few.

An author of more than 50 compositions to date, Christina has had her music performed by orchestras and ensembles including the Tonkünstler Orchester Niederösterreich, Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, State Academic Orchestra of St Petersburg, Athens State Orchestra, Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä, Orchestre des Jeunes de la Méditerranée, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Sentieri Selvaggi, Ensemble Aleph, Ensemble BlauerReiter, Ensemble Reconsil, Het Collectief, Nomos Ensemble de Violoncelles, Elias String Quartet, and others. Her music has been championed by conductors such as Pablo Heras-Casado, Pierre-André Valade and Jean Deroyer.

Athinodorou has received commissions from institutions and organisations including Radio France, Musik der Jahrhunderte, Amici di Sentieri Selvaggi, Pafos2017 European Capital of Culture, Pharos Arts Foundation and others. She has been awarded for her music in competitions such as the 1st Île-de-Créations 2013 in France (winner of both the Prix du Jury and the Coup de cœur du public) for her symphonic work Intermède pour une mer jamais vue andpublished by Durand; the 1st Sibelius competition in Finland 2015 (second prize for her choral work De l’Âme), the 6th Prokofiev in Russia in 2012 for Alma for Viola and orchestra, the Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra Young Composer Award 2006-7 in England (winner, three commissions), Aristotle University in Greece 2005 etc. Her works have been broadcast on BR Klassik, CyBC, RAI3 and France Musique.

Developing a parallel path as a conductor, Athinodorou has worked with ensembles and orchestras including the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto in Casa da Música, Tonkünstler Orchester, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Nederlands Symfonieorkest, and the London Sinfonietta. She has received the Dame Felicity Lott Bursary destined for “a promising emerging musician in the field of performance (conducting)” and has been invited to participate actively in masterclasses with Jorma Panula, Mark Shanahan, Zsolt Nagy, Péter Eötvös, Lothar Zagrosek, Pierre-André Valade. Christina is the founder and Artistic Director of the contemporary music-oriented Ensemble Cyclamen.

Born in 1981 in Paphos, Cyprus where she began her music education, Christina Athinodorou studied composition and conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London for five years, where she was a student of Julian Philips and Alan Hazeldine. Later, she lived in Paris where she continued studying composition with Philippe Leroux. She also took courses at the Centre Acanthes in Metz, University of North Texas, CNSMD de Lyon, Composit Festival and IRCAM. She holds a PhD in Composition from the Royal Holloway University of London and she regularly gives courses and seminars in institutions including the London College of Music and the European University Cyprus.

A freelance artist, she divides her creative time between Cyprus, Paris and London.